Analytic perspective

Pathways to health: a framework for health-focused research and practice

Nancy L Fleischer¹ , Ann M Weber² , Susan Gruber² , Karina Z Arambula² , Maya Mascarenhas² , Jessica A Frasure² , Constance Wang² and S Leonard Syme³

¹  Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 1214 South University Avenue, 2nd Floor, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548, USA

²  Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 140 Warren Hall, MC 7360, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA

³  Division of Epidemiology, Division of Community Health & Human Development, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 140 Warren Hall, MC 7360, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 USA

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Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 2006, 3:18doi:10.1186/1742-7622-3-18

Published:	12 December 2006

Abstract

Public health research and practice is faced with three problems: 1) a focus on disease instead of health, 2) consideration of risk factor/disease relationships one at a time, and 3) attention to individuals with limited regard for the communities in which they live. We propose a framework for health-focused research and practice. This framework encompasses individual and community pathways to health while incorporating the dynamics of context and overall population vulnerability and resilience. Individual pathways to health may differ, but commonalities will exist. By understanding these commonalities, communities can work to support health-promoting pathways in addition to removing barriers. The perspective afforded by viewing health as a dynamic process instead of as a collection of risk factors and diseases expands the number of approaches to improving health globally. Using this approach, multidisciplinary research teams working with active community participants have the potential to reshape health and intervention sciences.